Queraline
by PriestessOfNox
Summary: Not sure if this considered a crossover or not but it's the Legion of Superheroes in the movie-verse Coraline plot-line with my own twists thrown in. Querl used to live in an orphanage with Imra and Garth until Garth is old enough to leave, taking his two friends with him to live at the Pink Palace. There they have unusual neighbors and a little locked door... Slash.
1. Chapter 1

09/17/12

You know that thing where I said I would never write this?

...

Yeah, I didn't take fanart bribery into consideration.

You can blame/thank Ashbound from deviant art for this.

ENJOY!

Queraline

Chapter 1

The Orphanage

Querl Dox had been at the Intergalactic Orphanage, Earth Branch, for nearly as far back as he could remember. He had a very vague memory of his mother, a beautiful blond Coluan, whom had stuck around only long enough to name him before she left him behind; abandoned him, either term was hurtful.

At first the Coluan government was going to raise him but then they thought it would be interesting to use him in an experiment. They wondered if a Coluan child, even a Brainiac child, would still be brilliant if they were raised outside Colu among lesser minds. What other chance would they ever have to find out?

So, in the name of science, the Coluan government sent him to Earth, forever keeping an eye on him from Colu but never interacting with him. They paid for whatever basics Querl needed, along with whatever education he required that the orphanage wouldn't normally supply, and whatever damages Querl would cause for even as a small child Querl had a desire to tinker. He would try to take apart whatever he could get his hands on and would have improved these things if the caretakers of the orphanage would ever leave these things in his hands long enough for him to do his work.

Even though the Coluan government paid for these things the caretakers did not care for Querl's tinkering. They, quite frankly, did not care for Querl. Every adoption day they would try to make him "someone else's problem" but no one was interested in a green child, especially not one who was smarter then they were and had no problems demonstrating that intelligence.

The orphanage may have been on Earth, with a wild variety of alien species living there, but most of the children at the orphanage were human or could at least pass for human. For most of his stay there, Querl was the only one who was obviously not human, and was always the only one who had technology mixed in with his flesh.

These differences seemed to be a silent signal for the other children to torment him whenever they weren't ostracizing him from any social interaction. They called him "Brainiac Five" like it was an insult, along with other names that made it seem like being intelligent was a bad thing. They also liked to tease him about his appearance, that being green meant that he was slimy and disgusting and the purple clothes he wore from his home world indicated that he was a girl, when he was clearly a boy even with his longer hair, calling him Queraline.

For a long time the only one who ever showed him any kindness was an older girl named Imra Ardeen from Titan. Originally she came to Earth to be trained in Earth's military branch the science police from a very young age. However the program fell through and she ended up at the orphanage when the Earth government was unable to contact Imra's parents on Titan. The girl held onto the belief that one day her parents would come for her, no matter how much time passed.

Though Imra's slightly pointed ears showed her to be an alien she looked human enough where the other kids left her alone. And they left Querl alone whenever she was around, though it was unfortunate that it wasn't very often due to their different ages and genders. When she was around Imra tried to expand Querl's interests; she showed him literature, movies and things as simple as enjoying a sunny day.

When Querl was old enough to go to school he tested out of the normal Terran school system and Colu paid for him to go to a special school for geniuses. This was where he met Lyle Norg.

The other boy was only a little bit older then Querl and was completely human but he saw no reason to treat Querl any differently from anyone else. After an initial, admittedly, overreaction on Querl's part to Lyle asking about why he was "Brainiac Five, didn't he know who Brainiac was" they became partners in their classes and eventually friends. That was nearly short lived when Lyle started to call Querl, "Brainy" but, in the end, Querl decided an annoying friend was an improvement from no friends.

Lyle was not allowed to visit Querl at the orphanage but he knew what went on there from Querl; that is when Lyle annoyed it out of him. He often bad mouthed the Coluan government for leaving Querl at the orphanage and not seeming to care at how he was treated.

"Can't complain too much though," Lyle theorized, "If they weren't idiots for leaving you here I wouldn't have been lucky enough to meet you."

That comment made Brainy's face heat up and Lyle wasn't annoying enough to torment him about it.

Once Lyle asked, "Hey Brainy, am I really your only friend?"

"Do you want a printed T-shirt stating such?" Querl rolled his eyes.

"That would be cool," Lyle grinned but showed a rare instance of seriousness, "But isn't Imra your friend?"

"No," Querl stated simply. At Lyle's look, he rolled his eyes again. Really, wasn't the answer obvious? "She's my family."

After that Lyle tried to sneak in to the orphanage to meet Querl's "Mommy", not caring that Querl yelled at him for called Imra that, but was always caught. He swore he would create an invisibility serum and become a master spy with his own theme music. He ignored Querl's logic that theme music would only get him caught.

It wasn't too long later that Garth Ranzz, a boy a little older then Imra, came to the orphanage. This boy had once been part of a farmer family on Winath but the accident that gave him and his older brother lightning powers also killed his twin sister and their parents. At first his older brother Mekt tried to take care of Garth but the two didn't get along and the stress of being barely an adult taking care of a sibling as a parent became too much and Mekt ran from his responsibility. Garth tried to follow his brother but was found by the Science Police and turned over to the orphanage.

Though Garth could pass for human, his lightning powers scared the other children and they avoided him. Imra befriended him and Querl silently glowered. It had always just been him and Imra, why did this boy have to show up and ruin things?

Whenever Garth was around Querl's would hold onto Imra's arm or hand, keeping her close to him. In return Imra would smile and hug him, occasionally kissing the top of his head not knowing Querl's true intentions. He wasn't about to let Garth steal her away and if that meant being clingy he had no problems doing so.

One day when Imra wasn't around the other children were trying to get in their back log of tormenting Querl. These altercations had never been physical before but it looked like it would have become that if Garth hadn't shown up, hands glowing with lightning as he warned the children to "back off" with the threat of fried rear ends if he ever saw them go near Querl again.

Querl still wasn't going to let Garth steal Imra away but he figured it would be okay if they shared her.

When Garth was old enough he managed to convince the orphanage to let him get a job after school under the provision that he stopped threatening the other kids and kept good grades. He got a decent job doing construction where his lightning powers came in use and often came back to study with Querl late into the night to keep up his grades.

In the rare instances where the three of them were together they dreamed of having a place of their own outside the orphanage. They made plans for their rooms, Garth talked about setting up a mad scientist lab for Querl and Imra wanted a garden.

Realistically Querl knew it was only talk. He knew once Garth turned eighteen that they would never see him again and the dream would end but it was nice to pretend with them. He often continued the dream in his own sleep.

It wasn't until Garth turned eighteen that Querl realized how serious Garth had been about their dream. On his birthday he returned from his job and knelt before Imra, proposing to her with a plastic ring from a coin machine until he could afford something better. She wasn't old enough to leave on her own but if they got their orphanage's permission Garth would be her guardian until she could be his wife.

Tears filled Imra's pink eyes and she held Garth's hands as she declined.

"I can't leave Querl," Imra nearly sobbed.

"But Querl's coming too," Garth squeezed Imra's hands.

When they both stared at him Garth explained that since the orphanage didn't want Querl, Garth got the permission from Colu to take him as long as Querl still went to the genius school. They would all be together like they talked about over the years.

"It won't be our own house, we'll be renting a place in this three apartment place called the Pink Palace, and there isn't a place for a lab but there's a garden that needs someone to take care of it and we'll be together," Garth swallowed, "If you want."

Both Imra and Querl nearly tackled Garth to the ground with their embraces though Querl didn't kiss him; he left that up to Imra as she accepted his proposal.


	2. Chapter 2

09/18/12

Chapter 2

The Pink Palace

It didn't take long for the three of them to pack their meager possessions and move to the Pink Palace the very next day. The building wasn't too far away, just on the edge of town where it became the country side, the owners of their building having the farm next door where Garth would be working from there on.

Querl suspected it was partly nostalgia that made Garth choose this place and his new occupation but he didn't comment on it. Instead, once everything was moved inside, he went out to explore seeing as he never had the opportunity to do so before.

The garden had an old creaky black gate and was filled with tiled stone and barren dirt. In his head, Querl was already making plans on how to renovate it as he moved up to the trail and up a small hill. He had heard the movers of the furniture Garth had acquired for them talk about an old well that Querl was curious about.

About halfway up the hill Querl heard something. The rustling of the grass near him indicating it was some sort of animal.

Hoping it was a squirrel or something, Querl hurried along his way. There was no point in sticking around to find out after all. He didn't stop until he reached the top of the hill and through a grove, of what looked like, apple trees where the well was supposed to be but all there was was a big rock and a bunch of mud inside a circle of mushrooms.

Just as Querl turned about to look around further he felt his foot step in the mud and heard a hiss behind him. He swung back around to find a black cat with a white patch on its chest, which looked like a little ghost, standing on the rock and looking at him in an agitated manner.

"Um hello," Querl said awkwardly. He had never been this close to a cat before, let alone spoke to one. "Do you know where the well is?"

The cat seemed to nod, crouching on the rock as if to pounce upon him as if he were a field mouse. Their gray eyes were staring, unblinking, deep and intense and thought he couldn't explain Querl felt the need to back away.

"You may want to move," said a male voice behind him, making Querl jump and swing around again.

Behind him was a boy, not much older then him, with black hair which had a curl in the bangs and blue eyes unlike that Querl had ever seen before. He was wearing a red sweater jacket, farmer's gloves, and blue jeans and he was floating.

Before Querl could question it the boy floated closer to him and took hold of Querl's arm, to gently pull on it.

Face flushed, Querl pulled away, "I don't want any trouble; I just wanted to see the well."

"That's why you should move," the boy took hold of Querl's arm again, pointing at his feet. "If you stomp too hard you may fall into it."

This time Querl let himself be pulled out of the fairy circle, watching as the boy let go of him and clear off some mud to show the wooden cover of the well underneath.

"My Pa says that this well is so deep that if you were to fall into it and look up you would see a sky full of stairs, even in the middle of the day," the boy stated, putting his feet back on the ground once he was away from the cover.

"If the fall didn't kill you," commented Querl.

The boy chuckled warmly, "That's true" and went over to stroke over the cat's ears, whom purred under his attention.

Querl rubbed over his arm where the boy had pulled on his arm awkwardly, asking "Is that your cat?"

"Sort of," the boy sat on the rock to let the cat crawl into his lap. "She's feral but she comes to the house sometimes; I feed her and she stays with me when the weather's bad but she's her own cat."

Slowly, Querl moved forward and held out his hand to the feline, petting her along with the boy once she had given her sniff of approval.

"What's her name?"

"I call her Tinya, sometimes Phantom Girl when she appears in my room out of nowhere."

"And what's your name?"

"Clark Kent," the boy smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you Queraline."

It took Querl a moment to register what Clark had said.

"What did you just call me?"

"I'm sorry, did I pronounce it wrong?" Clark looked genuinely concerned. "Garth said his daughter's name was Queraline and-"

Querl held up a hand to stop him, much to the annoyance of Tinya, but he couldn't care much with the headache that was forming.

"First of, Garth is not my father. Secondly, and more importantly, I am not a girl; my name is Querl Dox."

For a second Clark stared at him but then smiled, "I didn't think you looked like a girl." His smile faded a little, "But I didn't think Garth would lie to me either."

"He's just teasing me through you," Querl assured him. He shuffled his feet a little before looking at Clark again. "When did you meet Garth? Do you live at the Pink Palace?"

"No, my folks own it," Clark avoided Querl's gaze, looking down the hill at Querl's new home. "I'm surprised they rented to your family; they've never rented to someone with kids before."

"Garth is barely an adult and Imra is seventeen," Brainy pointed out.

"Yeah but my Pa knew the last family with kids that lived there when he was a kid himself," Clark began but the sound of a bell ringing cut it off.

"Clark," a woman's voice called, "dinner."

"Got to go," Clark stood, setting Tinya down before floating again. He waved with a bright smile and called after Querl as he flew off, "See you later Querl."

Querl watched until Clark flew out of sight, to a farm house that could barely be made out through the trees. After a moment he turned back to Tinya.

"Your owner is interesting. I wonder what kind of alien he is."

Swishing her tail, Tinya narrowed her eyes at Querl.

"Don't like it when I call him your owner?" Querl mocked asked but took it as an affirmative when Tinya's eyes narrowed further. "Fine, you have an interesting friend."

Ears perking, Tinya walked over to Querl, purring and rubbing against his legs.

"Yeah, you are real feral," Querl smiled, bending down to stroke over her back. He paused when he felt the first droplet of rain.

Without really stopping to think about it, Querl picked Tinya up and rushed them both to the Pink Palace before the downpour started. He set Tinya down on the covered porch to ride out the storm before heading inside unaware of the feline jumping onto the window sill to watch him.


	3. Chapter 3

09/23/12 for CxB Week Sept 22: _Crossover Saturday_

Chapter 3

The Little Door

The rain reminded Querl a bit of the orphanage, of staring out a window and wondering what was beyond it. In this instance it was more of the lines of wondering who was beyond it.

Clark was an interesting person; looking human but clearly not like Imra and Garth. The ability to fly wasn't a much of a clue as to what alien species he originated from but Querl didn't have much doubt he could figure it out once he gathered more information.

Behind him, Imra sat at a laptop she had checked out from the local library, alternating between trying to figure out their expenses and finding a job for her to bring in more income. If Querl listened he could hear her whisper, "anything but a waitress" once every two minutes, occasionally adding other options to that "anything but" prayer.

The door opened, Garth returning from the Kent Farm. His footsteps started in but then hurried back to the door to take off his waterlogged boots to dry by the vent before joining them in the kitchen.

"One of our neighbors has a cat," Garth announced, grabbing a kitchen towel to dry his face off with. "It tried to trip me on my way in."

"She is her own cat," Querl paraphrased from Clark. He didn't bother to mention that he was the one who put Tinya on the porch; the fact that she nearly tripped Garth made the effort a bonus. "Her name is Tinya."

Garth chuckled, "Naming the strays already?"

"Clark named her," Querl felt his cheeks flush. "And what's this about you having a daughter?"

Lunging forward, Garth trapped Querl in a bear hug, "What's wrong; don't you want to be my little Queraline?"

With a growl, Querl tried to pull free but Garth didn't budge.

"Let go; you're all wet!"

"Say 'Please Daddy' and I'll consider it," Garth laughed.

"You sound like a pervert!" Querl countered.

"Is that any way to speak to your father?" Garth ruffled Querl's hair.

"Imra," Querl shouted.

"Boys, behave or I'm sending you both to your rooms," Imra smiled from behind her computer screen.

"Yes dear," Garth released Querl, going to sit beside her.

It was moments like this Querl wished he was immature enough to stick his tongue out at someone. Instead he looked back out the window.

"So when are we going to start the garden?"

"You complain about me being wet when I hug you and yet you want to garden in the rain," Querl could almost hear the eye roll in Garth's voice.

"Not now," Querl rolled his eyes in return. "I just want to know a general time frame so I can make the appropriate plans."

"You'll have plenty of time to make plans," Imra stated. "We really shouldn't start a garden until we're all settled and can afford to get all the basic equipment." She sighed at the screen, "Maybe next year?"

At that Querl frowned. Something Imra had wanted for years was a garden and now that he finally had the opportunity she wasn't going to take it? He understood that gardening tools could be expensive and then there was the seeds, bulbs, fertilizer and other things Querl's research had indicated but with the meager income of a farmer's assistant and whatever job Imra managed to get it could be years before they could properly afford a garden.

The last thing Querl wanted was Imra and Garth to regret bringing him into their new lives.

"A vegetable garden could help lower the grocery bill," Querl offered.

"Not enough to cover the cost of tools," Imra countered.

Silence filled the room and Querl traced random numbers onto the foggy window. He stopped when he noticed a figure sprinting towards the house. No, not sprinting on the ground, flying through the air.

Rushing from the room, Querl got to the front door just in time to see Clark fly off. Why had he come here just to leave?

Just as Querl was about to close the door, Tinya attacked something that was at his feet. Under attack was a package wrapped in newspaper with a note on it.

Ignoring Tinya's hiss, Querl picked up the package before she could do too much damage. The note had his name on it.

When Tinya made another swipe that the package, Querl took it inside and closed the door before she could follow. He walked back to the kitchen as he lifted the note from the package.

"Who was it?" Imra asked.

"Clark," Querl answered, "He left something for me."

"Getting presents from admirers already; that's my girl," Garth grinned.

"Both Clark and you know I'm a boy, I'll ask you to stop the Queraline jokes now before I seek vengeance," Querl ignored whatever Garth said next in favor of reading the note which said, "My Pa had some stuff from the Pink Palace's old owners and you'll never guess what I found; look familiar? –Clark".

Opening the package Querl was amazed to find a rag doll that looked exactly like him; green skin, blond hair, Brainiac emblem on the forehead and even the same clothes. The only difference is that the little Querl had black buttons, with three holes that shaped the Brainiac symbol, for eyes.

"I thought you said he knew you were a boy," Garth eyed the doll with a frown.

"I thought so too," Querl tossed the old newspaper and the note but kept hold of the doll. He listened to Imra type for a while longer before he ventured out into the house to give her and Garth some time alone; he could tell when Garth was anxiously waiting for a chance to kiss Imra and he didn't want to be around when Garth tried to sneak one behind his back.

For what they paid their section of the house was rather large. Besides the kitchen there were three bedrooms, Imra wanting her own until she and Garth officially tied the knot, one of which would become a study after the wedding, a storage room with large windows that could be converted into a green house, two bathrooms and a living room. Besides Querl's own room, he rather did like the windowed storage room. He could see the stone patch that would one day be their garden, the grove of trees by the well and the tiny dot that was Clark's house.

"If this wasn't upstairs this could make a decent lab," Querl commented to the doll. "The windows would be good for venting smoke."

After listening to the rain for a while longer, Querl headed back to the lower level of the house. He plopped the Querl doll on the coffee table he looked at the painting above the fireplace that some previous tenants had left.

In the painting were a family; a raven haired woman, a gray haired and spectacled man and their son that took mostly after his mother with his father's facial structure. They all stood formal and solemn.

Stretching out his arm, Querl traced the mother's face. He recalled the retreating back of his own mother before he withdrew his hand.

Shaking his head, Querl turned to pick up the doll and leave but the doll was no longer on the table. He looked around, surprised to see it half behind an empty box close to the wall.

"How did you get over there?" Querl questioned. "Do we have mice or something?"

It didn't take much effort to move the empty box aside to retrieve the doll but when he did, Querl paused. Behind the box was wallpapered wall but underneath the wallpaper was the outline of a door, a little door perfectly his size when he knelt down.

"Imra," Querl called, "Did you know that there's a door here?"

"A door where?" Imra called back.

"In the living room, behind the wallpaper," Querl replied.

After a moment both Imra and Garth came in and looked at the door with him, kneeling on either side of him for a better look.

"That's odd," Imra stated.

"Yeah," Garth agreed. "Let's open it."

"I'm sure it was covered for a reason," Imra tried to reason with him.

"And we won't know what that reason was unless we open in," Garth reasoned back. He patted Querl's shoulder. "Besides, Queraline wants to see what's behind it too."

In favor of solving the mystery, Querl ignored the feminine twist on his name and focused his attention on Imra.

"It would be logical to gather all the information that we can about our new home."

The Titan looked between the two boy's faces and sighed, "You two know I can't resist when you both give me that pleading puppy dog look."

"That's why we do it," Garth grinned at the same time Querl protested that he wasn't pouting.

With a fond roll of her eyes, Imra left the room and came back with a black old looking key, the top looking like a three holed shirt button. She used it to cut into the wallpaper around the door, noting with satisfaction how both boys were watching with rapt interest. Once the door frame was cut free she placed the key into the indent of the key slot and turned, unlocking it, then pulled it open.

"A wall," Garth groaned, "All that for a blocked up wall."

"They probably did it when the house was divided up into apartments," Imra stated, taking back the key to put it back where she found it.

"But why is it so small?" Querl nearly joined Garth in groaning.

"Who knows," Imra shrugged.

"Maybe you can ask your boyfriend about the original floor plans tomorrow," Garth followed Imra out of the room.

"Clark is not my boyfriend," Querl yelled after him, feeling his face grow hot.

"I was talking about Lyle looking up the floor plans online," Garth poked his head back in with a cat like grin. "You got two boyfriends now? My Queraline is such a heart breaker."

"I know where you sleep," Querl reminded him, picking up the Querl doll to demonstrate a choke hold, "Right down to which side of the bed."


End file.
